The Republican National Committee is apparently already taking steps that would recognize former President Donald Trump as the presumptive GOP nominee in 2024.
This comes even as Nikki Haley — the only other candidate left standing — has vowed that her campaign isn’t over just yet.
Not long after the primary vote in New Hampshire revealed that Trump had defeated Haley by 11 points, Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the RNC, said it might be time for the party to consolidate all its forces behind the former president.
David Bossie, a committeeman of the RNC who is aligned with Trump, proposed a draft resolution that would formally recognize Trump as the party’s presidential nominee. That draft was obtained by The Dispatch.
The draft reads:
“It is imperative for the welfare of all Americans that President Trump defeat President Biden this November and that all efforts and resources from patriots nationwide be exclusively focused on that and Republican victories down the ballot.
“Resolved that the Republican National Committee hereby declares President Trump as our presumptive 2024 nominee for the office of President of the United States and from this moment forward moves into full general election mode welcoming supporters of all candidates as valuable members of Team Trump 2024.”
Current RNC rules state that the resolution as written could be passed, since it says that Trump is only the presumptive nominee. He would still be forced to win at least 1,215 of the nominating convention delegates to officially be named the GOP nominee.
What the resolution would do is allow the RNC to expedite its process for aligning the party’s establishment behind one candidate.
This could prove to be essential, as President Joe Biden can already focused his campaign on the general election — and specifically on Trump — since he doesn’t have any real contenders in the Democratic primary.
Even though Trump has a huge lead over Haley in most national polls — and soundly defeated her in both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primaries — he still must wrangle with defeating her at subsequent primaries and can’t turn all of his attention to Biden and the November election just yet.
Despite finishing in third place in Iowa and 11 points behind Trump in New Hampshire, Haley has refused to drop out of the race. She’s also rejected the efforts that the RNC is undertaking to declare Trump the winner of the primary.
When news of the draft resolution was released, Olivia Perez-Cubas, a spokeswoman for the Haley campaign, said: “Who cares what the RNC says?”
She added:
“We’ll let millions of Republican voters across the country decide who should be our party’s nominee, not a bunch of Washington insiders. If Ronna McDaniel wants to be helpful she can organize a debate in South Carolina, unless she’s worried that Trump can’t handle being on the stage for 90 minutes with Nikki Haley.”
It does seem all but a sure thing that Trump will win the GOP nomination eventually, but he may have to wait a little longer for the RNC to unify behind him.
